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How the Steelers matchup against the Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals remind me of the San Diego Chargers, only better. Arizona and San Diego both have among the best passing games in the league, and opportunistic secondaries as well. Kurt Warner has a lot of fire in him like Philip Rivers does, but he harnesses it better. It also helps that Arizona's WRs are better than San Diego's. It should be noted, however, that San Diego runs the ball better, which puts Arizona's offense at risk of becoming one-dimensional. Both teams have a Cromartie in their secondary, and both secondaries force a lot of INTs. Neither team is anything special against the run. I understand that Arizona stopped Atlanta's running game, but they still allowed a high YPC average against both Carolina and Philadelphia, which means I remain skeptical of their "improvement" against the run. The mistake that Carolina and Philadelphia both made is not running the ball enough. Granted, Philadelphia's defense **** the bed, but Carolina has no excuses whatsoever. The good news is, we can put pressure on a QB without having to resort to exotic blitzes like Philadelphia, so we're less susceptible to being burnt by screen passes and such. Ultimately, I think Arizona will score fewer points than normal, but we will allow more points than normal. The two keys to this game are how our offense, and our running game in particular, performs against their defense, and also which team makes fewer mistakes. It will probably be a somewhat close game, with the winner winning by fewer than 10 points, but I feel confident in our ability to win it. If we run the ball effectively and limit turnovers (one turnover is all we can afford to commit), then that should give us a decided edge in this game. However, if we can't run the ball, or if we commit multiple turnovers, then that could put our defense in a bad spot against a potent passing game, and we would then run the risk of being upset on the big stage. Super Bowl XLIII is ours to lose. Let's make sure not to.

I think Arizona is a lot better then the Chargers. the Chargers were just an ok team. Arizona is at their peak right now, and they have far better coaches then the Chargers. this game will be tougher then some might think. but you are right, if we turn that ball over, we are F$cked......

On Defense:
-Good rush ends in LaBoy/Berry and Smith (not as good as Mathis and freeny)
-Solid corner play in Hood and Rodgers-Cromartie
-A beast at safety in Adrian Wilson (every bit as good as Bob Sanders)

On offense:
-Warner at QB is the leader and he can play with anyone, make every throw on the field and speacializes in getting rid of the ball in a hurry. Kinda Manning like!
-At rb Edge and Hightower can both chew you up if given a whole. Add the speedster Arrington and they have a better stable of RBs than IND.
-2 WRs who are better than most and a 3rd and 4th that would start for some teams in Breaston and Urban. (that WR corp is probley better than that of Harrison, Wayne and Gonzo)

Task at hand

I know that we all love our "beloved" STEELERS!
What do you all think that they are thinking about , right now?
Probably not all the suspect , so called weaknesses of our team.
The match-up with the Cardinals and the Steelers , is somewhat interesting to say the least.
They have a high powered offense. We still have an offense unproven.
They have an offense that has never faced the caliber of a defense they are about to face.
Our offense has what it takes to get it done against thier "low"
rated defense.
Our defense has the chance to make the desired , a reallity.
All phases of our game must be in tact , to overpower a subpar team that could make for a lopsided Superbowl!!!!!!!!
We need all phases of our game , Number one , special teams , defense ,and an exceptional job from our offense.
I am not pointing any phase of our offense out. The whole , entire offense must be productive.
If they are , we should be good to go with bringing that # 6 home to our nation.

Last edited by Gettysburgh_Steel; 01-22-2009 at 11:24 PM.
Reason: the real deal not some punk ass small talk.

Arizona's defense relies on creating turnovers and big plays. They aren't a unit that will stop you every series all day long. They can be moved against like the Eagles showed as did the Falcons and others if you know how to attack and you have the weapons. The key is not turning the ball over for us we all know that.

Matchups with their 2 WR's and our DB's is a bit of a mismatch in terms of height, strength and maybe overall ability but our guys won't have to cover them all day long if the pass rush gets there which is key. I like our matchup of our front 7 vs the Arizona front line alot. Troy and Ryan will have to hit those WR's all day every play and get in their heads that we're a physical team that's not going to dance around and play cutesy throw the ball all day. We need to punch them in the mouth and play physical. If we can do that I like our chances.

Arizona and San Diego are a lot alike although the Cards definitely have the WR's advantage there for sure.

Big key in this game will be if the Steelers defense can put consistent pressure on Kurt Warner with only rushing 4 men and dropping 7 into coverage.......Kurt Warner can kill a blitz so blitzing him could lead to trouble for the Steelers defense......I'm not saying the Steelers shouldn't blitz at all but just be smart about it......Coach LeBeau is going to have to come up with a great game plan and disguise his blitzes/coverages well against Warner......The Steelers defendars must win their individual match ups.....I don't how many times Lawrence Timmons was stoned by Willis McGahee in the AFC title game......Edge James is very good in blitz pick up but still Timmons must beat a RB one on one......

On offense the big key is running the football no doubt......If the Steelers can get their running game going then it keeps Warner and that offense off the field.....Plus if the Steelers offense can oppose their will on the Cardinals defense then it will break their spirits and then the play action pass can be effective.....

The Steelers special teams must be tight in their kick coverage so no big returns please.......The Steelers kick return units have been solid this year but they have allowed two big returns in this post season.....Steve Breaston took a punt return back for a TD against us last year in Arizona...........

I think Arizona is a lot better then the Chargers. the Chargers were just an ok team. Arizona is at their peak right now, and they have far better coaches then the Chargers. this game will be tougher then some might think. but you are right, if we turn that ball over, we are F$cked......

A lot better than the Chargers? Based on what? They're in the NFC. To top that, they're in the NFC west which is in complete shambles and the worst division in football. They had 6 games against 3 of the most miserable teams in the NFL and yet they only won 9 games.

1. They beat a team with a rookie QB in the first round (I think we pretty much showed what happens to rookie QB's in the end)

2. Jake Delhomme single handedly won them their second round game (No the defense absolutely does not get credit). 5 INT's and 1 fumble is not the result of a good defense, it's the result of a quarterback playing absolutely miserable, something Delhomme has always done in his career every few games or so.

3. I wont make any excuses for Philadelphia. They beat them. They only game they actually get credit for. But it's the Eagles, they tied the Bengals. They're one of the best teams in the NFC. I repeat, "IN THE NFC".

Originally Posted by steelcitysfinestXL

I really think they are more like IND than anything.

On Defense:
-Good rush ends in LaBoy/Berry and Smith (not as good as Mathis and freeny)
-Solid corner play in Hood and Rodgers-Cromartie
-A beast at safety in Adrian Wilson (every bit as good as Bob Sanders)

On offense:
-Warner at QB is the leader and he can play with anyone, make every throw on the field and speacializes in getting rid of the ball in a hurry. Kinda Manning like!
-At rb Edge and Hightower can both chew you up if given a whole. Add the speedster Arrington and they have a better stable of RBs than IND.
-2 WRs who are better than most and a 3rd and 4th that would start for some teams in Breaston and Urban. (that WR corp is probley better than that of Harrison, Wayne and Gonzo)

The Indianapolis what? The Pacers?

On defense? They have no defense!
-16th in rushing
-22nd in passing
-19th overall
-They played Seattle, the 49ers and St. Louis 6 times and still had the above rankings.

On offense:
-Warner is 50 and will get murdered playing a real defense.
-They have no running game so they're running backs are worthless and will be blocking the whole time to try and keep Warner alive.
-Every wide receiver (except Sweed) is great when his quarterback has 5 minutes to throw to him because they're facing NFC defense's that are ranked against NFC teams.
-Warner is a dead man.

If we lose, it's because Wisenhunt and Grimm know too much and Tomlin fails to prepare for and counter that fact.